Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/10919/23747
The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is ranked in the top 10 accredited civil and environmental engineering departments by the US News and World Report survey, is one of the largest programs in the United States. The Department has 46 full-time faculty, 657 undergraduate, and 400 graduate students. Civil engineers are the principal designers, constructors, operators, and caretakers of many of the constructed facilities and systems that contribute to the high quality of life enjoyed in the United States. The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers educational programs in all areas of civil engineering practice.

Browse

Browsing Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering by Author "Abdelghaffar, Hossam M."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Adaptive Traffic Signal Control: Game-Theoretic Decentralized vs. Centralized Perimeter Control
    Elouni, Maha; Abdelghaffar, Hossam M.; Rakha, Hesham A. (MDPI, 2021-01-03)
    This paper compares the operation of a decentralized Nash bargaining traffic signal controller (DNB) to the operation of state-of-the-art adaptive and gating traffic signal control. Perimeter control (gating), based on the network fundamental diagram (NFD), was applied on the borders of a protected urban network (PN) to prevent and/or disperse traffic congestion. The operation of gating control and local adaptive controllers was compared to the operation of the developed DNB traffic signal controller. The controllers were implemented and their performance assessed on a grid network in the INTEGRATION microscopic simulation software. The results show that the DNB controller, although not designed to solve perimeter control problems, successfully prevents congestion from building inside the PN and improves the performance of the entire network. Specifically, the DNB controller outperforms both gating and non-gating controllers, with reductions in the average travel time ranging between 21% and 41%, total delay ranging between 40% and 55%, and emission levels/fuel consumption ranging between 12% and 20%. The results demonstrate statistically significant benefits of using the developed DNB controller over other state-of-the-art centralized and decentralized gating/adaptive traffic signal controllers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Developing a Neural–Kalman Filtering Approach for Estimating Traffic Stream Density Using Probe Vehicle Data
    Aljamal, Mohammad A.; Abdelghaffar, Hossam M.; Rakha, Hesham A. (MDPI, 2019-10-07)
    This paper presents a novel model for estimating the number of vehicles along signalized approaches. The proposed estimation algorithm utilizes the adaptive Kalman filter (AKF) to produce reliable traffic vehicle count estimates, considering real-time estimates of the system noise characteristics. The AKF utilizes only real-time probe vehicle data. The AKF is demonstrated to outperform the traditional Kalman filter, reducing the prediction error by up to 29%. In addition, the paper introduces a novel approach that combines the AKF with a neural network (AKFNN) to enhance the vehicle count estimates, where the neural network is employed to estimate the probe vehicles’ market penetration rate. Results indicate that the accuracy of vehicle count estimates is significantly improved using the AKFNN approach (by up to 26%) over the AKF. Moreover, the paper investigates the sensitivity of the proposed AKF model to the initial conditions, such as the initial estimate of vehicle counts, initial mean estimate of the state system, and the initial covariance of the state estimate. The results demonstrate that the AKF is sensitive to the initial conditions. More accurate estimates could be achieved if the initial conditions are appropriately selected. In conclusion, the proposed AKF is more accurate than the traditional Kalman filter. Finally, the AKFNN approach is more accurate than the AKF and the traditional Kalman filter since the AKFNN uses more accurate values of the probe vehicle market penetration rate.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Estimation of Traffic Stream Density Using Connected Vehicle Data: Linear and Nonlinear Filtering Approaches
    Aljamal, Mohammad A.; Abdelghaffar, Hossam M.; Rakha, Hesham A. (MDPI, 2020-07-22)
    The paper presents a nonlinear filtering approach to estimate the traffic stream density on signalized approaches based solely on connected vehicle (CV) data. Specifically, a particle filter (PF) is developed to produce reliable traffic density estimates using CV travel-time measurements. Traffic flow continuity is used to derive the state equation, whereas the measurement equation is derived from the hydrodynamic traffic flow relationship. Subsequently, the PF filtering approach is compared to linear estimation approaches; namely, a Kalman filter (KF) and an adaptive KF (AKF). Simulated data are used to evaluate the performance of the three estimation techniques on a signalized approach experiencing oversaturated conditions. Results demonstrate that the three techniques produce accurate estimates—with the KF, surprisingly, being the most accurate of the three techniques. A sensitivity of the estimation techniques to various factors including the CV level of market penetration, the initial conditions, and the number of particles in the PF is also presented. As expected, the study demonstrates that the accuracy of the PF estimation increases as the number of particles increases. Furthermore, the accuracy of the density estimate increases as the level of CV market penetration increases. The results indicate that the KF is least sensitive to the initial vehicle count estimate, while the PF is most sensitive to the initial condition. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that a simple linear estimation approach is best suited for the proposed application.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Geographical Self Organizing Map Clustering in Large-Scale Urban Networks for Perimeter Control
    Elouni, Maha; Rakha, Hesham A.; Menendez, Monica; Abdelghaffar, Hossam M. (2024-05-02)
    Traffic congestion in urban areas presents a major challenge to efficient transportation systems. Recent advancements in traffic management provide promising solutions, with perimeter control emerging as a technique to tackle network-wide congestion. However, it is crucial to identify geographically connected homogeneously congested areas for effective implementation. This research explores the application of clustering techniques, particularly geographical self-organizing maps (GeoSOM), to identify spatially connected and homogeneously congested areas within transportation networks. While GeoSOM has found applications across various domains, its adaptation to transportation networks for congestion clustering is novel. This study introduces and implements an adaptation of the GeoSOM algorithm tailored for the large-scale urban environment of downtown Los Angeles. Its performance is assessed through a comparative evaluation with two other clustering algorithms, namely DBSCAN and K-means. The results demonstrate that GeoSOM surpasses other clustering algorithms, exhibiting improvements of up to 43% in traffic density variance, up to 61% in the spatial quantization error, and 15% in the quantization error. This finding demonstrates that the proposed clustering algorithm is effective in identifying a spatially homogeneous congested area within a large-scale transportation network.
  • Thumbnail Image
    A Novel Decentralized Game-Theoretic Adaptive Traffic Signal Controller: Large-Scale Testing
    Abdelghaffar, Hossam M.; Rakha, Hesham A. (MDPI, 2019-05-17)
    This paper presents a novel de-centralized flexible phasing scheme, cycle-free, adaptive traffic signal controller using a Nash bargaining game-theoretic framework. The Nash bargaining algorithm optimizes the traffic signal timings at each signalized intersection by modeling each phase as a player in a game, where players cooperate to reach a mutually agreeable outcome. The controller is implemented and tested in the INTEGRATION microscopic traffic assignment and simulation software, comparing its performance to that of a traditional decentralized adaptive cycle length and phase split traffic signal controller and a centralized fully-coordinated adaptive phase split, cycle length, and offset optimization controller. The comparisons are conducted in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia (38 traffic signalized intersections) and in downtown Los Angeles, California (457 signalized intersections). The results for the downtown Blacksburg evaluation show significant network-wide efficiency improvements. Specifically, there is a 23.6 % reduction in travel time, a 37.6 % reduction in queue lengths, and a 10.4 % reduction in CO 2 emissions relative to traditional adaptive traffic signal controllers. In addition, the testing on the downtown Los Angeles network produces a 35.1 % reduction in travel time on the intersection approaches, a 54.7 % reduction in queue lengths, and a 10 % reduction in CO 2 emissions compared to traditional adaptive traffic signal controllers. The results demonstrate significant potential benefits of using the proposed controller over other state-of-the-art centralized and de-centralized adaptive traffic signal controllers on large-scale networks both during uncongested and congested conditions.